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Author
Topic: Happy Dance for Me!!! (Read 3194 times)

I've been pretty quiet on the boards for a while now. Several of you know of the struggle I had starting meds and the pain issues that I went through. Well, I'm happy to report that about 4 weeks ago the side effects pretty much became minimal. I still have some soreness in my legs but overall I'm back to working more than I probably should and even doing a bit of traveling. A cruise is in the works for September. And then the best news is from my latest labs. CD4 at 546 and 23% with a VL of <50. So happy dance time. My attitude is much improved and I'm so ready to just get on with my life. And oh... I've even had a date <smile>. Many thanks for all of the support I found here and I'll still be around, tossing in my thoughts every now and then.

Yours is the first post I read this morning. I've been thinking about ya. Congratulations to you !!! I knew you had, such a tough time with things in the beginning, but your numbers look GREAT Have fun on the cruise, and enjoy your travels !!

David... I am so proud of you hanging in there when things were not so bright.. You have lifted me up time and time again and I am glad you are responding to the meds the way you are NOW! Now back to the LIFE thing ahy?

Thanks to all of you! You have been a great support through this. I've been through all of the common emotions... fear of the unknown, extreme enxiety, fear of disclosure, dealing with side effects. Sometimes you begin to feel like a whiner. But I have always known this was a safe place to come to and a place where I could get advice and someone to hold my hand when I needed it. I hope I'm returning the favor bit by bit. Eric was the first person I "met" after my diagnosis and so he will always have a special place in my heart and life. He gave me that courage to hang on and move forward and had me prepared for the meds when I got to that point. Blondbeauty was always there to check up on me and give me a word of encouragement. Mark I've always found comfort and knowledge in your posts as well as the one by Bear. Rab, Christine, and AlanBama, whenever I would post I knew I could count on you to share anything you could to help out. Your guidance has been really helpful. I woudl also follow the posts of David, Wendy and Em--sometimes in response to my posts and at other times just to see the advice and encouragement you gave to others. Kelly, JRE, and Nadine are others that I recognize and appreciate the support and encouragement. Hermie, I hope you enjoyed the Belgian chocolates... that gave me a craving for some really good chocolate... but alas, none here... so the happy dance contineued with toast and jelly. And bluelove, thanks for celebrating with me on this one.

I'm counting on seeing those "undetectable" numbers for a long time and a continued increase in the CD4 count and percentage. Of course, I'd wanted to see my CD4 absolute count go up (rather than down), but my nurse says the increase in percentage to almost double where I started means my immune system is much stronger and getting in better shape. Ironically, I've always been a person who was never sick... maybe a cold or sore throat once a year, but other than that, nothing.... So hopefully the old immune system is stabilized now and I'll just coast on through life, eventually nearly forgetting about this virus I have lurking in my system. And for all of us, I'm hoping one day for a medication that will finally either rid this thing from us or maybe only require something like a once a month dosing.

Coen,I'm probably not going to make the Amsterdam trip this time around. But if you do it again I'll sure do my bet. I'd love to, but not sure I"m quite ready for that big of a step. We shall see though. I'm still watching prices on airline tickets.